Projects by Clement Virgo, Jeremy Podeswa and Allan Moyle are among the films getting cash from a new $1.5-million program at the Ontario Media Development Corporation

Thirteen features are sharing in the funding, meant to cover development and production costs, including Poor Boy’s Game by Virgo, Podeswa’s adaptation of the bestseller Fugitive Pieces and Weirdsville by Moyle.

The recipients were announced late last year. The new Film Initiative was unveiled in September – offering up to $50,000 for development or $250,000 for production to Ontario-based production companies.

Just in time, too, says Conquering Lion VP Damon D’Oliveira (Poor Boys Game), noting that filmmakers fled the province because of the previous Tory government’s cutbacks in the ’90s. ‘The most difficult piece of financing is that final 10% to 15% that filmmakers struggle with all the time,’ he says. ‘What I’m hoping comes out of this is another Ontario renaissance.’

Poor Boy’s Game is about boxing and racial tensions in modern-day Halifax.

Michael Souther, producer at Amaze Film + Television (Saint Ralph), is also pleased, though he wishes the fund could have been larger. ‘But it’s definitely a good start,’ he says.

Amaze scored twice with the provincial agency, netting funds to produce its Rumspringa, about Amish teens experiencing the outside world, and to develop Finn on the Fly, about a boy and his dog.

‘You hear rumblings out there that we should be able to survive on our own with tax credits, but we’re a small market compared to the U.S., so we can’t rely on our broadcasters to finance our films. We need the support of government agencies at various levels and we need that support to be increased,’ says Souther.

The other companies that received money are: Accent Entertainment for Citizen Duane, Sienna Films for Step, Capri Films for You Can’t Come In and One Eyed Jacks, Pulling Focus for Away from Her, Victorious Films for Daydream Nation, Triptych Films for High Life, Pebblehut Too for Raven, Sarrazin Couture Entertainment for Think Like a Heel and Alcina Pictures for Smashed.

The Film Initiative is a pilot project and will be reviewed at the beginning of the OMDC’s next fiscal year, in April.

www.omdc.on.ca